Eweka II

Aiguobasinwin Ovonramwen, Eweka II (died February 1933) was the Oba of Benin from 1914 to 1933.

Eweka II
Eweka II, c.1920
Oba of Benin
Reign1914 – 1933
PredecessorOvonramwen
SuccessorAkenzua II
BornAiguobasinwin Ovonramwen
DiedFebruary 1933

He was the son of Ovonramwen (ruled 1888–1897), who was deposed by the British and exiled to Calabar following the British punitive expedition in Benin City in 1897. Aiguobasin Ovonramwen worked with the colonial government as a chief from 1902 onwards.[1]

Ovonramwen died in January 1914, and Aiguobasinwin Ovonramwen was enthroned as the Oba of Benin on 24 July 1914. He took the name Eweka II after the 13th-century founder of the dynasty and the first Oba of Benin Eweka I.[2]

Eweka II rebuilt the royal palace, which had been destroyed and looted by the British in 1897. He also reestablished the traditional structure of the kingdom. The royal coral regalia of Ovonramwen seized by the British was returned. Eweka II also restored the craft guilds, commissioning objects to replace those looted by the British, and started the Benin Arts and Crafts School.[3]

He died in February 1933.[4]

References
  1. Blackmun, Barbara (1997). "Continuity and Change: The Ivories of Ovonramwen and Eweka II". African Arts. 30 (3): 68–79. doi:10.2307/3337502. JSTOR 3337502.
  2. Bradbury, R. E. (2013). "Pre-colonial and Colonial Benin Politics". In White, I. M. (ed.). History and Social Anthropology. Routledge. ISBN 9781136541377.
  3. Ezra, Kate (1992). Royal Art of Benin: The Perls Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 9780870996337.
  4. Egharevba, Jacob U. (1946). Concise Lives of the Famous Iyases of Benin. Kraus Reprint.


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